Toronto’s
love for Japanese food continues with another ramen house/izakaya on
College. Ryoji is the first North American offshoot of an Okinawa
chain and proclaims itself as the first Okinawan-style izakya in Toronto. When
my friend heard about a special tasting menu being offered ($26 with taxes and
gratuities included), we thought it’d be a great opportunity to see how Ryoji
would differ from all the competition.

Esthetically, Ryoji is much larger than other izakayas
boasting a prominent store front and spacious interior. A mirrored ceiling
cleverly gives the illusion of high ceilings so makes the dining area seem
larger than reality. Ryoji also has two large tables (one by the entrance and
another near the kitchen) that offers great eating areas for big groups. The
one by the kitchen has a much better view, in my opinion, and was where our
tasting was held for the evening.

To begin, we were offered a choice of hot or cold sake or
a non-alcoholic drink. Sake was the popular choice and I got the cold one which
was fairly smooth and easy going. The portion sizes were impressive, enough for
about two and a half shot glasses.

The first dish was a cold appetizer consisting of
Ji-MaMi, pickled vegetables and cucumber wasabi. The Ji-MaMi was quite
interesting, a peanut tofu with a smooth texture and a consistency between
silken tofu and buffalo mozzarella. The tofu didn’t have the typical bean taste
but not quite peanut either, most of its flavour came from the thick sweet
sauce and was quite enjoyable. Although the cucumbers appeared to be lightly
blanched in salted water, the addition of freshly grated wasabi added a nice
contrast to make an otherwise simple ingredient interesting.

Next, were slices of sashimi - lean tuna and mackerel –
and were good, with the mackerel being one of the better ones I’ve tasted
(slight smokiness and very tender). But, what made the sashimi different were
the dipping sauces – an emulsified soy sauce (akin to foam), matcha salt and
sumiso sauce (a thick sweet miso glaze). I loved the various blends that could
be used to complement each of the fishes. My favourite combinations were the
soy foam & wasabi with tuna and the sumiso sauce with mackerel.

Skewers of chicken and beef yakatori arrived next with
more freshly grated wasabi. I’m quite happy that everything arrives with wasabi
and the beef really required it as was fairly bland. Maybe it was just the cut
of meat received as certain more marbled cubes were an improvement. On the
other hand, the chicken was much better, likely aided by a liberal brush of teriyaki
sauce and pieces of skin laid in between each cube to add flavour and keep the meat
tender.

Normally, I’d say you can’t go wrong with a platter of
deep fried food. However, my first bite of the fried ball was a disappointment.
I was expecting it to be takoyaki (a deep fried octopus ball) but it was closer
to fried mashed potatoes with a small piece of octopus inside; the texture was
too soft and overall wasn’t hot enough. The shrimp coated in a miso mayonnaise
and tartar sauce was decent, but a bit heavily battered for my liking. Surprisingly, the best part of the dish was
the zucchini fritters which had a nice dusting of garlic powder and parmesan
cheese mixed into the batter and served with a cool tangy sour cream dip. I would
have definitely preferred more of those.

One of the most anticipated dishes of the night, by my
friend, was the miso braised pork belly. Having been slowly cooked for four
hours, it arrived tender with the fat melting away without being overly heavy. It
may be shocking, but I’m not a huge fan of pork belly (perhaps its why I don’t
enjoy bacon), and the piece I received was just too fat for my preference. Even
so, I enjoyed its flavours and admittedly found it to be one of the nicer
non-crispy pork bellies eaten; thus, if you enjoy fatty meats I sense you’ll
love it.

Last to arrive were pieces
of albacore tuna (?) and scallop sushi. The tuna appeared to have been
marinated to ponzu making it very flavourful (accented by the crunch of soaked
red onions), but made the fish’s texture a tad rubbery. Remarkably, the scallop
was more of my fancy; Ryoji chopped up the scallops and mixed it with Miracle
Whip (?) so that it was well flavoured and helped to mask any strange textures.
The crisp piece of nori wrapped around it also rounded out the sushi nicely.

On a subsequent visit, my husband and I were in
the area and stopped by for a drink. We were in luck and ventured in on
Thursday when Ryoji offers pints of Sapporo for only $5. While enjoying our
drinks, we started talking to Matt Knight, Ryoji’s friendly bartender, who
introduced us to an amazingly crisp sake “Morning Dew”, made from mountain
water and newly imported into Canada.

For a place that is imported from Japan,
Ryoji is surprisingly “un-Japanese” – top 40 blares from the speakers, the
staff is notably diverse and there’s no screaming entrances & exits (thank
you!). But, it still offers diners a chance to enjoy something different – the peanut
tofu is definitely worth a try. All things considered, I’d say it’s one of the
better izakaya’s I’ve been to - no crazy line-ups, I believe takes reservations
and above all provides the ability to actually hear your fellow diners. It’s a
place that’s just a bit more refined and for that I like it.